The present invention relates generally to caskets, and, more specifically, to apparatus for attaching decorative corner trim pieces to the corners of a casket.
Some casket designs incorporate decorative or ornamental corner pieces secured to the casket during fabrication thereof. In many, if not most, prior designs, these ornamental corner pieces are rigidly affixed to the casket shell. Consequently, if a customer purchasing the casket is not pleased with the particular pre-installed ornamental corner pieces, and wishes to customize the casket exterior to his or her taste, the funeral director must go through a lengthy and complicated process to first remove the original ornamental corner pieces and then reinstall the ornamental corner pieces chosen by the customer. This process typically requires manual manipulation and access to the interior of the casket which may require the removal of bedding, lining, and the like. Such a process is time consuming and can damage the otherwise new casket and is thus frowned upon and generally avoided by the funeral director.
To more effectively market caskets, the funeral director desires to offer a wide variety of ornamental corner pieces from which a customer can select according to the customer""s taste. However, to offer such a wide selection, and to avoid the undesirable practice mentioned above, the funeral director would have to maintain a large inventory of many different casket material/finish and corner piece combinations, which is also undesirable. To minimize the required inventory of finished caskets, the funeral director could simply have one casket of each material/finish provided that the funeral director had some means providing for the quick and efficient changing of the ornamental corner pieces on each casket. As such, the customer could quickly view numerous corner pieces on a single casket, and the funeral director would need only stock a single casket of each materia finish. Prior casket designs, which rigidly affix the ornamental corner pieces, do not permit such quick and efficient changing of the ornamental corner pieces as discussed above.
What is needed, therefore, is an attachment mechanism to permit the quick and efficient installation and removal of ornamental corner pieces onto and from caskets. The attachment mechanism should also permit attachment of existing ornamental corner pieces which are designed to be rigidly attached, i.e., allow for retrofitting of current fixed corner pieces such that they, too, are quickly and efficiently installed and removed.
The present invention overcomes the shortcomings of prior ornamental corner pieces. In accordance with the principles of the present invention, the ornamental corner piece includes a back plate which is adapted to mount to the corner of a casket. An attachment clip is operatively mounted within an elongated groove in the back plate. The clip member has at least one keyhole groove comprising an opening and a slot. An ornamental corner insert has at least one attachment member which selectively slidingly engages the keyhole groove in the attachment clip such that the ornamental corner insert may be selectively mounted to or removed from the back plate. Advantageously, the attachment member is a shoulder screw having a head sized to fit through the opening and be held by the slot. The slot includes protrusions which act to positively secure the shoulder screw into the slot.
In one aspect of the invention, the attachment clip includes an indexing member. When the attachment clip is installed, the indexing member extends into a throughhole in the elongated groove in the back plate. The indexing member properly orients the attachment clip in the elongated groove. Advantageously, the indexing member is positioned closer to one end of the attachment clip than the other. As such, the attachment clip can be inserted into the elongated groove in only one orientation. By allowing the attachment clip to be oriented in only one orientation, the ornamental corner insert is always installed or removed in a standard method. For example, the ornamental corner insert might always be installed by slidingly engaging the attachment clip from left to right and removed by slidingly disengaging the attachment clip from right to left.
In another embodiment of the invention, the ornamental corner piece includes a base member which is adapted to mount to the corner of a casket. A back plate operatively mounts to the base member. An ornamental corner insert having at least one attachment member selectively slidingly engages a keyhole groove in the back plate such that the ornamental corner insert may be selectively mounted to or removed from the back plate.
In still another aspect of the invention, a casket includes a shell having a pair of side walls and a pair of end walls. At least one corner is disposed between adjacent side walls and end walls such that the corner is angled relative to them both. The corner includes at least one keyhole grove. The casket further includes an ornamental corner insert having a front and a back side. The ornamental corner insert includes at least one attachment member on its back side. The attachment member is adapted to be removeably slidingly received in the keyhole groove via a sliding motion which is parallel to a plane defined by the corner. Advantageously, the attachment member is a shoulder screw. The casket may include a back plate which is operatively mounted to the corner. The back plate, not the corner, includes the keyhole groove for receiving the attachment member.
Various additional advantages, objects and features of the invention will become more readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art upon consideration of the following detailed description of the presently preferred embodiments taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.